The authority of a Renaissance ruler seemed to depend in part on the divine protection afforded him during his life. The identity of his protectors was to some extent a matter of birth: the saint of the day on which he was born, the saint's name given him at baptism (often the same), and the saints of his homeland. As he matured, the ruler might choose as additional protectors saints he believed would help him, and their identity depended on the client's assessment of their efficacy. The protection of still other saints was thrust upon the ruler. In military victory, after successful business negotiations, and with the birth of an heir, an already powerful man found that some saints volunteered their services on their feast days; they were then gratefully incorporated into the client's pantheon.

Scholars of history have finally set to work on the history of scholarship. It is strange to report that they have neglected the history of their own intellectual tradition, but it is so. J. E. Sandys’ three-volume History of Classical Scholarship has of course long been available to serve as the basic source of information on the subject. But Sandys’ work presents chiefly a chronological overview of names, dates, titles, and anecdotes bearing on classical scholars and their work. What has been lacking is a survey of the development of scholarly thought and methods, based on an analysis of the principles employed by past scholars in their work. Synthetic studies are now available which suggest the broad outlines along which scholarship developed.

La Pyrénée (1571) stands out in the very considerable corpus of writings of François de Belleforest. The work was long thought to be a translation, or at best an adaptation, of Sannazaro's Arcadia (1502-1504). While Jules Marsan in his study of the pastorale dramatique published at the beginning of this century suggested that Belleforest might have been familiar with Montemayor's Diana (1550), no one has yet undertaken a study of La Pyrénée. Unlike Vauquelin de la Fresnaye's Foresteries (1555) or Remy Belleau's Bergeries (1565), both of which employ prose passages as a mere framework for the inclusion of poems, Belleforest's La Pyrénée is the first work in prose in French literature to which the term ‘pastoral novel’ might accurately be applied.

Professor Caterina Santoro's latest edition of Lombard documents, La politica finanziaria dei Visconti. Documenti. Vol. I, Settembre 1329 - Agosto 1385 (Milan, 1976), offers a convenient opportunity to look back over the last three decades and attempt a brief assessment of similar editions pertaining to the political and administrative history of Lombardy under the Visconti and the Sforza. With the possible exception of Naples, Milan is the one of the five principal Renaissance states that has attracted the least attention outside Italy, particularly in the United States where one seldom encounters even a review of a book devoted to Lombard history. Yet Milan is not only far more ancient but has been more consistently on the forefront of Italian history than both Florence and Venice on whom non-Italian scholars have concentrated their research efforts.